Chapter 18: Chapter 18

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Mission success

Rewards:- Random Treasure.

Temporal Units.

Generating....

Congratulations!!!

You have received: Legion Ring.

-Legion Ring:- A ring constructed from nth metal that gives you the ability to fly. A standard issue gadget for the Legion of Superheroes based in the 30th century.

Received:- 180 temporal Units.

Temporal units:- 240

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Ash couldn't believe it so he had to double check by pulling up the Ouroboros interface.

Right there, infront of his eyes was the text box reading that he had succeeded. He even felt something on the middle finger of his right hand. Looking down at it, the teen was met with a golden ring bearing the letter L emblem on it's head.

"Hey...you okay?" Ash felt someone touch his shoulder and he spun around ready to retaliate. The nervous energy he had, left him once he saw it was Shiro.

"Sorry, if I startled you."

Shiro apologized, lowering his hands. Ash shook his head, admonishing himself for his reaction.

"No no, you don't have to be sorry."

They fell silent, watching as Lancer's corpse dissolved into motes of light.

"So...it's, it's really over?" Shiro still sounded skeptic, something that Ash could relate to. He looked down at the plasma knife in his hands. The pencil like object could generate plasma that could cut through anything. It's shape was so deceptive and that...more than anything, told Ash exactly why they had won.

"He underestimated us." Ash said.

"And you proved him wrong."

Shiro followed up.

"No, We proved him wrong."

Ash insisted, throwing a smile the red haired boy's way.

Shiro smiled in kind, then held out a hand for him to shake. Ash shrugged and reached out to return the gesture, about to introduce himself.

Then a blade speared through Shiro's head, splitting his skull apart and shaving off Ash's right ear completely, causing blood to spray out and his vision to swim at the unexpected pain. The only thing that had saved the teen being a timely instinctual dodge.

Blood and bits of brains painted Ash's face. He blinked and begun to tremble... Shiro's body fell to the ground like a puppet with it's strings cut. Ash's eyes were comically large as he wondered why he was still alive...Shiro was dead, that was automatically supposed to send him back in time.

Wait...Shiro was dead but so was Lancer. Ash started to hyperventilate. Shiro was dead but he completed his mission. He managed to stop Lancer from Killing Shiro...so that meant, he was out of the loop.

Oh no.

Oh fucking no!

Ash's quirk activated in full force just as long nails attached to a chain slammed onto him, aiming to slash his body. Sparks were produced from the contact of metal and rock. The nails landed on his forearm and bit inches inside the hardened skin.

The power behind the attack lifted him off his feet and sent his body flying through the wooden walls of the house. Ash's body ragdolled through the grounds before he collided with a tree, breaking it's trunk under his increased weight.

Ash rose up to his feet feeling like the world was spinning around him. He could taste Shiro's blood on his tongue. He really was dead. And Ash was fucked too. Without the loops offering him an advantage, this new servant would kill him and no one was going to come to his rescue. The only thing he could do? Was escape. It was scummy. It was unfair but if he stayed, then the only...

Ash saw a bright spark cut through the air headed straight for him... He immediately rolled away, evading the nail that tore a hole through the fence separating the Emiya household and the Fujimura residence. The nail was pulled back. On the roof of the Workshop, something landed heavily.

Ash recognized immediately who it was.

Rider.

Ash pushed himself up to his feet and held his hands in a boxing position. Seems like it was too late to escape. Well then, if he was going to die, then he would die fighting. He was terrified but if there was an afterlife after this, Ash wanted to have no regrets.

"Well, what are you waiting for bitch? Come at me!" He slammed his chest.

"Or is Killing someone when their back is turned the only thing you can do?"

Rider looked down impassively. The mask on her face added to the indifferent way she stood.

"Don't be too harsh on Rider. I used a command spell on her to get rid of Emiya. If you want to blame someone...blame me."

Ash turned towards the source of the voice. Walking forward in a sedate pace, as if he was taking a stroll, Shinji Matou, Shiro's class mate appeared before Ash.

The latter took a step back, finally getting an answer to a question he had been asking himself.

Without his intervention, Shiro would have survived Lancer. The teen would have managed to summon the King of Camelot, Artoria and depending on which route this was, they would go on to last until the end of the holy grail.

So why? Why had this particular loop been necessary? Why did he need to save Shiro from Lancer?

"Though to be fair, I am still a little miffed that Lancer couldn't finish the job. The hound of Cú chullain huh? There was more to the name than the man." Shinji mockingly laughed.

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"Wait, what are you talking about?! Were you Lancer's master?"

Ash asked in disbelief.

"But of course." Shinji shrugged as if it was the most obvious thing.

"I am Shinji Matou, a scion of the Matou family. I have been trained from young to claim victory for the Matou's in this holy grail war. My family has ownership of this city. Why would you be surprised that I have the means to acquire two servants?"

That was it. That was the reason why everything was so off. This was a Nasuverse where by a fluke or something, Shinji was not incompetent. Now that Ash took a good hard look at him, he could see some notable differences. This Shinji was broad shouldered and walked with a certain air of confidence.

This Shinji Matou was dangerous. Still...

"Why kill Shiro?"

Ash asked, tightening his fingers into fists.

"He had no quarell with you! He wasn't even a master! So why, you bastard?!! Answer me!"

Ash's anger was palpable. His eyes were bloodshot as he looked into the eyes of Shinji.

Shinji smiled.

"That's easy. Sakura likes him and Sakura is mine sooo... conflict of interest?"

Even Rider, though barely, stiffened at those words.

Ash looked at him in disgust.

"You're fucking sick Shinji."

Hearing that the Matou's easygoing expression fell away.

"Rider? Kill him for me. Slowly."

Ash did not wait for her to make the first move. He sprinted forward towards Shinji at his fastest speeds while screaming. The ground before him exploded into chunks of soil and earth as he used the ring on his finger to abruptly stop his momentum. He could feel a sort of bubble holding him aloft. Using that he was able to jerk to a stop. Rider looked up from the ground after she had failed to land on him and swung her chains.

Ash knew that he could atleast block some of the damage. While Rider was powerful, she didn't yet possess the completely overwhelming strength necessary to easily break through Ash's hardening Quirk. If she got serious though...or Shinji decided to have her use her Noble Phantasm, he was dead before he hit the ground.

He blocked the nails like before, using his forearm, but the chain wrapped around his hand. With a tug from Rider, Ash was pulled off his feet and spun around. His back bit into the side of the workshop, destroying the wall and revealing what was inside.

He then smacked onto the left over trunk of the tree he had felled, before he was pulled towards Rider while grunting. Rider waited until he was close enough and used her other hand to slam a fist down on Ash's back.

Ash was too late to properly reinforce his back and while Rider was overall weaker than Lancer, such a direct hit was still trouble to the teen. Ash slammed into the ground, creating a crater in the shape of his body. Breath left him with a whoosh as well as his blood. That one attack had gone through this quirk like it wasn't even there.

Ash tried to roll away, suspecting what was about to happen but was still slow and with an audible crack! His left arm was left dangling from its shoulders. He looked on in horror, the pain just making itself known.

Rider pressed her foot on to his chest, making it hard to breathe for the teen. She twirled the chains in her hands, looking ready to finish it. Ash looked up, thinking of what to do. He was about to die...And there were no more loops. The fear turned into desperation as his mind ran with a hundred thoughts.

"I said slowly Rider. Make it hurt."

Shinji ordered, to Ash's horror. Rider brought her foot off his chest and stepped back. Every fiber of being in Ash's body screamed for him to run! Escape! He answered the call.

His right hand went to his left and quickly removed the legion ring, then he held it in his palm and wished to fly just like earlier.

Ash was dragged through the ground, barely managing to escape the foot stomp that caused the ground to erupt like a wave. The attack had been aimed for his right leg. Ash whizzed past the grass and overturned soil, jerking from side to side while trying to learn how to properly fly using the ring. That erratic movement saved his life more than anything.

The nails were thrust towards his body but with the skin of his teeth, he was Somehow able to escape a direct hit.

"Rider! After him!"

Ash managed to pass the fence separating Shiro's home and using the brief reprieve from Rider's attacks, he flew along the wall of the house, aiming to turn towards the sky. For all of Rider's power and skill, Ash had more chance in escaping than staying behind and fighting.

That's where things went wrong. Ash slammed into a force field, painfully. The push back generated sent his body flying down to the ground in a wild pattern. He tried to arrest his momentum but could not get enough sense on where to fly.

"I don't care anymore Rider! Finish him now!!"

Shinji ordered quickly.

Ash's instincts screamed at him and he managed to avoid the incoming attack by using his quirk to increase the weight on one side of his body, hence spinning himself while in the air. He managed to avoid the lethal part of the attack but not all of it.

Rider's nails speared through his shin and tugged him towards the Servant. Ash tried to claw the chain off his leg, knowing if he allowed himself to...

The second chain wrapped around his chest and tightened. The nail on the end of the chain, dug into the small of his back, knifing through his tough skin with some difficulty. Breathing became hard for Ash when Rider placed a hand on the boy's neck.

Ash's chest rose up and down. There was nothing else he could do, with one chain holding his leg captive and the other wrapped around his chest. The pressure on his neck increased and his vision swam. Ash's terror came back.

'I am going to...die.'

There were no more loops left.

'PLEASE!! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!!"

There was an audible crack as his neck was broken.

Darkness claimed Ash.

Loops remaining 0/0.

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